“God sets a father in honor over his children;
a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.”
(Sirach 3:2)

God shows us that we need family to learn to love and to have and raise children. God gave Jesus a mother, Mary, and an adopted father, Joseph. And God gave Jesus a family tree with cousins and aunts and uncles. In some places in the Gospels we hear of Jesus’ brothers and sisters. However, that language is an accident of translation. There is no vocabulary in Hebrew for brothers and sisters of a nuclear family. In fact, the word for first cousins and brothers and sisters is the same word. It is quite likely that in Nazareth Jesus lived within a home of an extended family of cousins. Jesus was shaped in a robust human family.

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Human history is divided into two parts: before and after the Messiah. The zero point, the center of our history is the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The center of our history is Christmas.

The Old Testament deals with all human history from creation of the universe, the creation of our first parents, and the history of our salvation prior to the birth of Christ. The New Testament of the Bible begins with the birth of Jesus and the coming of the kingdom of God down to present times. We live in New Testament times.

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Consider your own redemption. God always wanted to call us back to him, to live with him in eternal friendship.

We cannot separate the Immaculate Conception from the premise of our own Baptism. By our Baptism we are cleansed of our Original Sin. John the Baptist’s baptism was not our Christian Baptism. John’s baptism was an outward sign of an inner reality regarding the repentance of those who listened to John’s message. John called people to repentance, and the ancient cleansing baptism with water in the Jordan was the outward sign of their desire to be cleansed of their sins.

Jesus’ Baptism is a sacramental gift of life. Christian baptism gives life. By our baptism we are restored to eternal friendship, eternal life with God. By our baptism we become just like Mary. Mary was born without original sin. Mary did not sin. Mary could not die. When we are baptized we become like Mary, so we can share divine life with her in God.

Today’s feast of All Souls, and yesterday’s feast of all Saints are connected by the same promise of eternal life with God. Yesterday, we acknowledged how happy we are that some of our race, the “Saints”, have been assured that they made it to heaven and received the Promises Jesus made to the Just, the “poor in Spirit”. We venerate the Saints because they are looking upon the “Face of God” for all eternity. We know they are saved. The Church holds them up as excellent models for us to follow.

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From the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we hear,

God created mankind in his image;
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

We are made in the image of God. We are made to share divinity with God. We were made, like Adam and Eve, to live forever with God, sharing eternal life with Him. This is God’s plan of Salvation for us.

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A father tells his two sons to do their chores. The first refuses, but later does what his father asked him to do. This son had a change of heart, and the change was to be obedient to his father.

The second son replies, “Yes, sir”, but then does not do what his father asked him. This son was rebellious. His answer to his father was just to look good.

This happens all the time in some parishes. We prepare the children to be disciples of Jesus Christ, their First Communion, their First Confession and Confirmation. They all say, “Yes”. Then they disappear. But it is not the children who disappear. It is their parents who do not believe that attendance at Mass is important, even though God, the Father, has told us in his commandment to keep holy the Sabbath, Sunday, and to worship Him on Sunday.

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We heard in the first reading,

Thus says the LORD:
Observe what is right, do what is just;
for my salvation is about to come,
my justice, about to be revealed. (Is 56:1)

Each year as school starts, I become very concerned for the students returning to school; it is a concern for their honor and virtue, for their faith and their souls. They will be faced with new temptations and challenges. My hope for them is that they will do as their faith instructs them, to “Observe what is right and do what is just.” But this concern is not just for the children, but also for their parents.
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In the world there is chaos. It is up to us to bring order out of chaos. In order to have order and peace we must mature in our priorities, get our act together, and learn to control the chaos in our lives, with the Grace of God. This is wisdom. We need wisdom.

It is easy to discover and measure the maturity of a person by their values and priorities, and how well defined these are; Which ones are more important? Perhaps it is their faith and their hope for eternal life. Perhaps it is their family. Perhaps it is their work. Maybe it is sports. Perhaps it is simply pleasure.

It is a tragic situation when a person has no demonstrable or defined values or priorities to guide them through the chaos of their lives. In their immaturity they are lost, living in chaos. They lack wisdom.

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God wants very much that we come to share the divine life of the Trinity. St. Paul states boldly: “You are in the spirit if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.” But not all choose to be in the spirit, or in the divine life with God.

A couple of weeks ago, it was reported in the press that Pope Francis excommunicated the mafia, its leaders and those who support their activities.

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How do you like the Sanctuary now? The Tabernacle is now restored and in place behind the Altar. Our Lady of Guadalupe is no longer covered with a reflecting glass. And, as a community, we chose together our primary image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and it is now permanently hung behind the altar.

Now, I have a challenge for all parishioners. We are not here to be entertained, but to become disciples. Each of you has a personal faith story, probably related in some way to the Holy Eucharist. We need to become comfortable sharing our faith story with others, our own children and family members and friends. There is no “right” way to do this. No two stories would be alike, and we would probably surprise each other with our personal stories. Our symbols are meant to help us communicate our faith. We would simply ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in our faith story, and for the courage to tell it.

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One of my favorite experiences is to watch families entering the Church. Who knows what was going on before they came in. However, a beautiful reverence comes over them when they enter. Upon entering the Church, parents often take the time to teach their children how to put their hands into the Holy Water font and then bless themselves making the sign of the Cross. Once in a while I will see a father with both arms full of children, who doesn’t have a hand free to bless himself. Frequently, his wife may have a free hand and she will put her hand into the Holy Water font and then make the sign of the Cross over her husband, first, then over her children in his arms, and lastly over herself. Sometimes I see the same thing with a person being pushed in a wheel chair, when their family member and caregiver crosses them with Holy Water.

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That Gospel from Matthew is the last paragraph, in the last chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. The entire Gospel of Matthew has been aiming toward this paragraph, the commissioning of the Apostles and the sending of the Church.

Were all the disciples on board? What we hear is this,

The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.

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Easter is such a grand and overwhelming mystery! It takes time, meditation and prayer to begin to grasp the mystery of Easter. Even an entire lifetime cannot grasp all of the mystery. Easter is the mystery of Life. Easter needs to be seen from God’s perspective, a Father’s perspective.

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Jesus shows himself as both the Shepherd and the Lamb. Remember how, at Mass, we say of Jesus’ Body and Blood, “Behold the Lamb of God”. He is the sacrificial lamb offered for our sins.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us he is the shepherd and the sheep know his voice. He is also the gate, the gate of heaven and eternal life.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.”

Jesus wants to lead us and guide us to eternal life.

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What is darker? The night? Or, Death?

What is brighter? Light? Or, Life?

We all live in fear of darkness, real darkness. Few things are as frightening as total darkness, like the darkness of the grave. And there is nothing darker than death and sin.

We live in the hope of life. There is no greater hope than Eternal Life. There is no light brighter than the Hope of life.

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“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

That was Jesus’ preaching. Jesus is God. Heaven is where God is present. God became man and called us to Himself, in heaven. But we cannot have heaven unless we repent.

In many people’s thinking, if there is a heaven, then we should all be going there, regardless of our relationship with God. Perhaps you have heard the child’s question, “Can dogs go to heaven?” It is an innocent child’s question. We should know how to respond. It is a wonderful, teachable moment.

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